In order to maintain the favorable condition within the interior of an automobile, an air regulating system thereof generally serves for taking in external air and supplying the air into the interior of the automobile by performing thermal exchange after foreign matters such as dust are eliminated.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conceptual structure and operation of an air filter device of the conventional air regulating system for automobile will be described hereinbelow.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a state that an air filter is installed to the interior of the conventional air regulating system for automobile. As shown in FIG. 1, the air regulating system is largely classified into an inlet duct 3, a supply duct 9 and a connecting duct 5 for mutually connecting these.
Inlet duct 3 is installed with a blower motor (not shown) therein and an inlet 1 for admitting the air in one side thereof. Supply duct 9 is internally furnished with a heater (not shown) and an evaporator (not shown). Connecting duct 5 is installed between inlet duct 3 and supply duct 9, and an air filter 7 for eliminating dust and the like is installed within connecting duct 5.
The dust and the like in the air introduced into inlet duct 3 via inlet 1 are eliminated while passing through air filter 7 of connecting duct 5. Thereafter, the resultant air is heated or cooled within supply duct 9 to be supplied to the interior.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view schematically showing a state that the air filter is installed into the interior of a conventional cowl apparatus. As shown in FIG. 2, a cowl 10 for receiving the air is installed to one plane of a dash panel 14. Cowl 10 is installed with an air filter 12 at the entrance side in communicating with an air conditioner module (not shown).
According to the aforementioned construction, foreign matters such as dust in the air introduced via cowl 10 is eliminated while passing through air filter 12, and the resultant air is transferred to the airconditioner module.
In the above description, the conventional air filter device for automobile constructed and operated as above is conceptually explained. Now, the construction and operation of the conventional air filter device for automobile will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.
FIG. 3 is a view showing an installation state of representing the installing place of a conventional air regulating system for left-handed drive type automobile. As shown in FIG. 3, an evaporator unit 21 for forcibly admitting to cool external air is installed into the interior of an automobile 20. A blower unit 30 is connectively installed to one side of evaporator unit 21 to supply the air into the every part of the interior.
FIG. 4 illustrates a sectional view of the air regulating system shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, evaporator unit 21 is formed by an impeller 23, an air filter 40 and an evaporator 31. Blower unit 30 is formed by a plurality of gates 22 and an air vent 35.
A gate 22a for adjusting the quantity of introduced air is provided to the entrance side of evaporator unit 21, and impeller 23 connected to a blower motor 25 is installed within a duct 27. Evaporator 31 is installed to a predetermined position within the interior of duct 27 to go across overall cutaway plane, and air filter 40 is sandwiched between evaporator 31 and impeller 23. A heater 33 is installed to the rear side of evaporator 31 when using the flowing direction of the air as a reference.
The interior of blower unit 30 is formed by a duct branched into several parts. Gates 22b and 22c for controlling an opening area are provided to the entrance sides of respective branched ducts, and plurality of air vents 35a, 35b, 35c and 35d extending to every part of the interior of the automobiles are formed to the exit sides.
FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of air filter 40 shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5, air filter 40 is largely classified into an air filter member 42, a frame 44 and sponges 43 and 45.
Air filter member 42 is provided such that a plurality of alternately-folded creases are arranged at equal distances. Frame 44 for supporting air filter member 42 is adhered to the edge of air filter member 42. Sponges 43 and 45 are installed to both sides of frame 44 to oppose to each other. Especially, the portion of being installed with sponge 45 is to be asymmetrically-shaped for efficiently utilizing a space within an engine room.
The conventional air regulating system for automobile having the foregoing structure is operated as below.
Impeller 23 rotated by blower motor 25 is forcibly supplied with external air. Accordingly, the external air is forcibly introduced into the interior of duct 27 via gate 22a. The introduced air passes through air filter 40 up and down to be cleaned by eliminating the foreign matters such as dust, and sequentially passes through evaporator 31 and heater 33. At this time, the air is cooled or heated by evaporator 31 or heater 33, which is selectively operated by a driver.
The air having passed through evaporator unit 21 is appropriately distributed in accordance with the opening/closing extent of respective gates 22b and 22c, and then is supplied into the interior of the automobile via air vents 35a, 35b, 35c and 35d.
The conventional air filter device for automobile has been described heretofore. However, the conventional air filter device for automobile illustrated and described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 has the following problems.
Due to the short durability, the air filter is an expandable supplies required for being replaced in accordance with the travelling distance (e.g., replacement per 10,000 km of the travelling speed) of the automobile. But the frame mounted with a shock absorber is formed to a frontal portion of the entrance inserted with the air filter device, thereby causing an interference when the air filter device is intended to be replaced.
Consequently, the conventional air regulating system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is inconvenient in that a globe box frame and cowl are to be disassembled when replacing the air filters. Furthermore, the driver cannot replace the air filter by himself to thus request for the replacement to a service center that is furnished with an exclusive facility.
Also, automobiles are classified into a left-handed drive type that a handle is installed to the left and a right-handed drive type that the handle is to the right. However, the conventional air filter device is symmetrically manufactured with respect to the left-handed drive type and right-handed drive type automobiles to be incompatible with each other.